It's all in place for the curtain to rise on the Last Act of Planet Earth -- Revived Roman Empire

The prophetic frame of reference surrounding the idea of the Pre-tribultionat Rapture requiresz a "revived Roman Empire" as having to be in place for the final events of the tribulation to unfold.   This is  because the prophecies place these events in the Roman Empire,  which we g4enerally think of as long dead in the distant past.   It all has to occur in the Roman Empire because that's what the prophecies show, at least the prophecies in the book of Daniel.  The succession of great empires is prophesied from Bablyon through Medo-Perisia through Alexander's Greece to a fourth empire unknown at the time which is to be the last, after which God himself will reign on the Earth.   All these prophecies came true in their time and the fourth empire was reigning in the time of the Messiah, which makes it the Roman Empire.

According to the current prophecy about the timing of the Rapture of the Church and the following Tribulation, this final empire is no longer n existence and therefore must be revived in order to be the setting for the final events.    The formation of the EU in recent years is regarded by many as the needed revival.  There are various elements associated with this formation that are taken to be signs of its role as this revived empire, including an empty seat in the Parliament with the number 666 and the statue of Europa that seems reminiscent of the woman riding the beast in the book of Revelation.

All this accompanies the idea that the Antichrist is an unknown figure to be revealed during the Tribulation period, an evil political leader who has inspired many creatire interpretations.   Well, Hitler was an Antichrist figure so the idea isn't far-fetched.  There were elements of his reign that were very religous in tone, and the Third Reich over which he presided was consciously modeled on the Roman Empire.  Also to be noted is that the title "Kaiser" in German and "Czar" in Russian are translations of "Caesar" which add to the general European identification with the Roman Empire.

The Holy Roman Empire in this case, the Second Reich.  The thing is, in a real sense the Roman Empire never died, it was carried on by the Roman Catholic Church headed by the papacy, for about a thousand years, during which it put to death every kind of dissident against its rule and its doctrines.   The prophesied fourth empire is said to be "different" than all the others, which would certainly describe the Roman Church.  Not your typical political entity, although the Vatican IS in fact a political state.

Although the Holy Roman Empire no longer exists the Roman Church does exist and boasts a membershup of a billion people all over the world.  It lost its political clout at the Protestant  Reformation but its essential structures are still in place and could easily be revived under the right circumstances, such as the disappearance of the true Church.   Since the Roman Church and the papacy have continued  despite the loss of its former political power, it doesn't seem unreasonable to think of it as the continuing existence of  the Roman Empire itself.   Besides being described as different from the other empires in the prophecy, the fourth empire in Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the statue, has legs of iron but feet and toes of iron mixed with clay.   Although some  divide this into a fourth and fifth empire, the vision Daniel had in Chapter 7 describes only one fourth kingdom, not a fourth and fifth, and since his vision parallels Nebuhadnezzar's dream it seems right to think of it as one kingdom or empire that has two phases, the solid iron of the original Roman Empire, followed by the iron plus clay of the empire ruled by the papacy, the Roman Church.  It is not like the other kingdoms or empires, it has weak "clay" or human beings mixed in with the institutions of its power, which probably indicates its its vast human memership, many of whom will defect and be saved during its reign under Antichrist.

The Reformation exposed the essentially Roman pagan nature of most of the pracdtices of the Roman Church.  The priests wear the garb of the priests of the old Roman pagan religions, the rosary is a pagan practice, as are candle lighting and many other superstitions.   The papacy, which was identified as the Antichrist by the  Reformers, had also taken on the Roman pagan title "Pontifex Maximus."  All of its outward forms and rituals are pagan and Roman, none of them are Christian although Christian symbols and doctrines are absorbed into them.    Although the Bible is quoted in many of its ceremonies, they deny the biblical teaching on salvation by faith in Christ alone without workd.   In fact in their Council of Trent they lay all the biblical teachings of the Reformation under anathema, or curse, favoring the specifically nonChristian faith-plus-works formula for salvation.

So in a sense the Roman Empire is right here in our midst, hiding in plain sight, and has never gone away.  Reinstatement of its world political dominion to become the ferocious final power of the book of Revelation would seem to be merely a matter of an opportune change inb the political climate, which isn't too hard to imagine occurring soon considering our current global distresses.  Exit the true Church then, leaving it for the RCC to define Christianity and put its Pope in the place of the Savior.

There is some idea we won't know who the Antichrist is until after the Rapture, but the Reformers considered him to have been revealed in 606 AD when the Bishop of Rome was declared Universal Bishop, after which the Roman Church grew to be the religio-poltical power over the Holy Roman Empire.  There could of course also be a revelation of THE particular Antichrist-Pope still to come, after the Church is Raptured.   It's also true that the Pope himelf might not play that ultimate role, but one of the kings over which the RCC once reigned, meaning a political leader from today's kingdoms under the papacy, the way Hitler was the Antichrist figure supported by the Pope of his day.  In the Holy Roman Empire the Popes had power over the kings and something like that could characterize this final global empire. 

People ask where the United States is in Biblical prophecy.  Well, I have no trouble seeing it as one part of this continuing Roman Empire resuscitated to its former power.   We already have the abominations of a bulding that looks like St. Peter's basilica in Rome even down to the obelisk that fronts it, in our case the Washington monument.  And then there is that very romanesque painting in the ceiling lof the rotunda of the "Apotheosis of Washington" presented as a god, a very Roman pagan idea and certainly not Christian or in any way consistent with the principles of the fonding of America.  Or Washington's character for that matter since he could have been king but refused the honor.  However there is a very persistent rumor that he became a Catholic on his death bed.

Despite our completely incompatible political and originally Protestant religious character, given how we've deteriorated over the last half century or so I have no problem including the USA with the EU as one of the nations within the final Roman Empire/Church.  I have my guess as to who might be our king at that time too...